The present invention relates to programmable organizers. In particular the present invention relates to inexpensive, disposable programmable organizers particularly useful for programming a personalized television (TV) program or TV programs schedule.
Prior to the days of television, radio was a popular home family entertainment . Radio programs, that is, the listing of radio presentations to be broadcast over the air during a period of time, for example, for a particular days were normally provided in the local news paper. In areas, such a metropolitan areas, for example, where daily newspapers were published and sold, the radio program for that particular day was printed in the daily paper, the programs based on time. In the days of radio and in the days of early TV, programs were relatively simple. Presentations broadcast were, for the most part, presented live over the air and presentations were not often repeated. In addition, the number of broadcast stations, both radio and /or TV was relatively few in any given area and both the radio and the TV programs were relatively simple, there being two daily programs, one program for radio and one program for TV. With relatively few radio stations and/or television broadcast stations or channels receivable in a given area, such as the New York Metropolitan area, for example radio and TV programs, which were set forth on the basis of time were easily readable.
With the advent of cable television, the number of TV channels receivable over television sets connected to the cable system was greatly increased. The use of satellites for transmitting TV presentations further increased the number of channels receivable in anyone place or area. As the number of TV channels receivable by television sets increased and TV technology expanded, pre-taping or pre-recording of TV presentations or shows became more the practice than the exception. Further, with more TV channels available for viewing and TV being broadcast around the clock, a large effort was made to broadcast motion pictures over TV. In order to make motion pictures available to more people, movies, and other popular TV presentations were often broadcast or aired several times during the same day and on different days of the week, some times by several different channels. This factor alone made TV programs based on time difficult to publish and difficult to read because of the repetition of TV presentations involved.
In order to simplify TV programs and make the programs more readable, the basis on which TV programs was set forth, that is, the basis of time was changed and TV programs based on titles or the identification of the TV presentation were set forth. This system produced a long list, in alphabetical order, of TV presentations to be broadcast over a specific period of time, for example, a month, with the dates, times and channels over which the particular presentation was to be aired listed after the name of the presentation.
An example of part of a listing may be as follows:
______________________________________ Column 1 Column 2 ______________________________________ SAM DOE CHANNEL 10 COMEDY MON. JUNE 9 8:30 PM SHOW WED. JUNE 18 10 PM CHANNEL 14 FRI. JUNE 6 8 PM/11:30 PM MON. JUNE 9 11:30 PM SANDY'S DOG CHANNEL 22 MON. JUNE 9 9:30 AM/3 PM WED. JUNE 26 10 AM/2:30 PM ______________________________________
As can be seen, the basis of the program is the name of the presentation followed by the channel presenting the particular show and the days and times of airing.
It has been suggested that programs, based on presentation or show names be presented to the public as cut-out or tear-out stamps. Each stamp identifies a TV show or presentation on one side and on the other side the schedule of airing is set forth. An organizer may be set up on a time basis, for example, a month and pockets in the organizer may be made to receive the stamps according to one's choice for his schedule of TV viewing. My co-pending patent application entitled Programming Device, filed July 27, 1987 and assigned Ser. No. 78,119 teaches the use of such TV presentation identifying stamps and the use of a TV programmer which is in the form of a calender, in mirror image, with a transparent flip sheet in the form of a rack or organizer for storing cards or stamps having data thereon relating to the name or title of a TV presentation on one side of the card or stamp and the schedule of airing and the channel on which the presentation is to be aired on the other side of the card or stamp.
Although the self programming TV programmer of my said co-pending application is useful and practical, the cost of materials for the programmer and the cost of assembly combine to make the total cost too expensive for a disposable, give-away programmer. In addition, the structure of the programmer is not of a disposable nature.